Pegasus
飞驰人生
China, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 97 mins.
Director: Han Han 韩寒.
Rating: 7/10.
Comedian Shen Teng and writer-director-rallyist Han Han team smoothly in the story of a racer’s comeback.
STORY
Shanghai, 2017. Five years ago, in May 2012, rally driver Zhang Chi (Shen Teng) – who had won the rigorous Rally China Championship, in Bayanbulak, five times in a row and then retired after attacks in the press – was suspended by the Automobile Sports Association after being arrested by police in a road-race challenge. Restless, and wanting to prove something to his young adopted son Zhang Fei (Li Qingyu), Zhang Chi has applied for the ban to be lifted. The arbitration committee, chaired by former rival Wan Heping (Zhao Wenxuan), agrees to let him have a chance to “recover his honour” by racing current champion Lin Zhendong (Huang Jingyu), an arrogant rich kid, in the next Bayanbulak rally, held 4,000 metres up in Xinjiang province, northwest China. Zhang Chi contacts his former co-driver Sun Yuqiang (Yin Zheng), who agrees to re-join him. Zhang Chi has to re-take his driving test – easier said than done – before getting his racing card. Meanwhile, Lin Zhendong meets Zhang Chi and says he wants to prove to everyone he can win against the former champion. Zhang Chi’s former car supplier (Wei Xiang) refuses to hire him a vehicle because of nervous sponsors but lets him have the old bodywork of the car he used to drive. Zhang Chi’s former mechanic Jixing (Zhang Benyu) joins the team; but his shopping list of parts comes to between RMB1.2 million and RMB2 million, and they have only about RMB400,000 between them. Sponsorship proves difficult and, in desperation, Sun Yuqiang introduces Zhang Chi to a gangster (Tenger) who agrees to put up RMB1 million if his girlfriend’s picture is put on Zhang Chi’s racing suit. The date of the 2018 rally nears, but en route to Bayanbulak a disaster happens.
REVIEW
Not many big stars end up in two CNY films the same year, so Pegasus 飞驰人生 is an especially lucky coincidence for Mainland comedian Shen Teng 沈腾, 39, given his mis-teaming with Huang Bo 黄渤 in rival CNY attraction Crazy Alien 疯狂的外星人. In the latter Shen looked seriously out of place as a sidekick to the goofy Huang; in Pegasus he has a vehicle tailored to his straightfaced talent – and by none other than trendy Shanghai writer/blogger/professional rally driver Han Han 韩寒, 36, whose passion for fast cars doesn’t overwhelm the more human story of a has-been driver trying to make a comeback. Taking some RMB1.7 billion, it’s proved Han’s biggest commercial success so far, easily eclipsing his artier road movie The Continent 后会无期 (2014, RMB629 million) as well as beating his time-travel light comedy Duckweed 乘风破浪 (2017, RMB1.049 billion).
In his previous two films, Han pretty much managed to incorporate established stars into his own universe without cramping their styles: the trio of Feng Shaofeng 冯绍峰, Chen Bolin 陈柏霖 and Zhong Hanliang 钟汉良 [Wallace Chung] in The Continent, and Deng Chao 邓超 in Duckweed. The same goes to an even greater extent in Pegasus, which is not only Han’s most laddish, male-centred movie to date but also his most rally-centred. Luckily, you don’t have to be a car-freak to get into the film, as it’s first and foremost a Shen comedy; and even the virtual absence of women in the story is hardly noticeable, given its rally-world setting, natural progression, and smart pacing.
Thematically, the film blends elements from Han’s other two films – a father being shown to his son not to be a loser (Duckweed) and the ties of shared passions that are stronger than family (The Continent). The slight comic twists this time are that the lead’s son is not exactly whom he seems to be, and that the lead is basically entering the rally to prove something to himself more than anyone else. This is hardly a surprise coming from a writer like Han – one of the spokesmen for high-achieving Gen-80ers – and even seeps into the character of the lead’s rival, a Gen-90 fuerdai who wants to prove he can win a race in which his onetime idol is taking part. The further twists here are that each generation learns something from the other by the end and that, more importantly, Han’s world-view seems to be mellowing a little as he gets older.
It may be wrong to read too much into Shen’s reined-back performance – Han also got Deng to scale down his mannerisms in Duckweed, and Shen has built a whole career on comically laidback opportunists (Goodbye Mr. Loser 夏洛特烦恼, 2015; Hello Mr. Billionaire 西虹市首富, 2018) – but apart from the final race sequence, a 15-minute, split-screen symphony to rubber and steel, there’s a sense that the main character has already crossed a Rubicon in his life and is just going through the motions one more time. This works well dramatically, making the whole question of whether he’ll win the race less certain. The open ending finally makes it all beside the point.
All of this is below the surface rather than up front, as Han’s films so far have basically been about men fooling around between themselves than anything deeper. Considerable fun is had with the lead assembling his old race team and even having to re-sit a driving exam to be accepted back into the rally world. Supporting performances, several by Shen colleagues, are nicely drawn, from the girly-looking co-driver of Yin Zheng 尹正 (Goodbye Mr. Loser) to the mechanic of Zhang Benyu 张本煜 (the car thief in Duckweed). Huang Jingyu 黄景瑜 (the newbie sniper in Operation Red Sea 红海行动, 2018) is well cast as the arrogant younger challenger and various cameos (Mr. Loser‘s Tian Yu 田雨 as a driving examiner, Han’s rally-driver pal Gao Huayang 高华阳, Taiwan’s Zhao Wenxuan 赵文瑄 [Winston Chao] as a former rival) enrich the texture.
Widescreen photography by editor Bai Yuxia 白玉侠 (Duckweed) is fine, making the most of locations in the high-altitude wastes of Xinjiang province for the fictional rally, and the montage of the lead’s car finally coming together is wittily staged like an auto ad. The Chinese title literally means “The Speeding Life”. Han himself performed some of the stunt driving, along with Northern Irish rallyist Níall McShea, who also appears as himself in the race.
CREDITS
Presented by Shanghai PMF Pictures (CN), Shanghai Bona Culture & Media (CN), Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Cultural Media (CN), Shanghai Alibaba Pictures (CN), Wanda Media (CN), Guomai Culture & Media (CN).
Script: Han Han. Photography: Bai Yuxia. Editing: Bai Yuxia, Tan Yukun. Editing advice: Xiao Yang. Music: Chen Guangrong [Comfort Chan]. Art direction: Wang Kuo. Styling: Wang Baoyi. Sound: Guo Ming. Action: Luo Yimin [Norman Law]. Stunt driving: Níall McShea, Han Han. Visual effects: Qiao Le, Ye Zi.
Cast: Shen Teng (Zhang Chi), Huang Jingyu (Lin Zhendong), Yin Zheng (Sun Yuqiang, Zhang Chi’s co-driver), Zhang Benyu (Jixing), Yin Fang (Hong Kuo, Lin Zhendong’s co-driver), Tian Yu (Tian, driving examiner), Wei Xiang (Ye, car manager), Feng Shaofeng (Japanese master), Zhao Wenxuan [Winston Chao] (Wan Heping), Tenger (gangster), Jiaoshou Yi Xiaoxing [Yi Zhenxing] (Gao Huayang), Li Qingyu (Zhang Fei, Zhang Chi’s son), Gao Huayang (Gao Ren), Liu Shuailiang (policeman), Li Lingyu (Zhu Chunjuan, gangster’s girlfriend), He Sui (Suisui, Sun Yuqiang’s wife), Pan Xiaoting (Zhang Chi’s ex-girlfriend), Tian Yuan (Zhang Chi’s ex-girlfriend), Li Bing (interviewer), Shen Nan, Li Chun’ai (TV presenters), Níall McShea (himself).
Release: China, 5 Feb 2019.